HolSpan MD

02/20/2026

Lenten Reset: Fasting for Health, Not Just Discipline

Lent has always carried the theme of fasting — not as punishment, but as refinement.

This week, let’s look at fasting through both a spiritual and physiologic lens.

What Is Intermittent Fasting?

Intermittent fasting (IF) and time-restricted eating (TRE) limit when you eat, not necessarily what you eat.

Common approaches:
- 16:8 (16-hour fast, 8-hour eating window)
- 14:10 (more moderate, often sustainable long term)
- 24-hour fast once weekly

Most benefits appear to come from prolonged periods of low insulin exposure and reduced overall caloric intake.

Contemporary Data & Benefits

Modern research suggests time-restricted eating may:

- Improve insulin sensitivity
- Reduce visceral fat
- Lower fasting insulin levels
- Support modest weight loss
- Improve metabolic flexibility
- Reduce late-night caloric intake (a major driver of metabolic dysfunction)

In sedentary, metabolically unhealthy populations, these benefits are often more pronounced.

It’s not magic.
It’s structure.

And structure creates metabolic predictability.

My Practical Experience

In clinic, I’ve noticed something consistent:

The more unstable someone’s food environment is, the more fasting makes sense.

If someone:
- Grazes constantly
- Eats late at night
- Struggles with processed food exposure
- Has poor appetite regulation

A defined eating window creates guardrails.

Similarly:

The more sedentary someone is, the more fasting makes sense.

If energy expenditure is low, compressing intake often restores balance without requiring obsessive calorie counting.

For many busy professionals, a 16:8 structure is simpler than tracking macros.

The Pitfalls

Fasting is not universally appropriate.

The biggest issue I see clinically:
Inadequate protein intake.

When you compress eating into a short window, it becomes harder to hit:
- 0.7–1.0 g protein per lb of lean body mass (for most men aiming to preserve muscle)

If protein drops, muscle mass drops.
If muscle drops, metabolic rate drops.

Now the “metabolic hack” backfires.

Fasting is also not ideal for:
- Competitive athletes in high training volume
- Growing adolescents
- Underweight individuals
- Men actively trying to gain significant lean mass
- Pregnant or breastfeeding women

In these scenarios, energy and protein demands are elevated. Caloric restriction — even time-restricted — can impair growth, recovery, hormonal stability, or fetal development.

Practical Advice

If you fast:
- Prioritize protein at the first meal
- Lift weights to preserve muscle
- Avoid breaking your fast with ultra-processed carbs
- Ensure total daily calories aren’t unintentionally crashing too low

If you are:
- Training intensely
- Trying to grow (muscle or otherwise)
- Pregnant
- A child or adolescent

Fasting is likely not the right season for you.

Lent reminds us that fasting is about intentionality.

From a health perspective, fasting works best when it:
- Simplifies
- Reduces chaos
- Improves metabolic structure

It fails when it:
- Compromises protein
- Compromises growth
- Becomes another stressor

Discipline is powerful.
But wisdom is knowing when to apply it.

Fasting should build resilience — not erode it.

Be consistent
Be HOL

02/19/2026

Weekly Reset: Happy With Less

In a culture that constantly pushes “more” — more income, more status, more upgrades — contentment can feel countercultural.

But this week’s principle in our series is simple:

Be happy with less.

The Stoics had a practice called “practicing poverty.” Seneca described intentionally living with minimal comforts for short periods of time — simple food, basic clothing, fewer conveniences — while asking:

“Is this what I feared?”

The goal wasn’t deprivation.
It was freedom.

When you voluntarily step into less:
- You realize how little you actually need
- You reduce fear of loss
- You strengthen resilience
- You recalibrate gratitude

For many men, chronic stress isn’t just workload — it’s lifestyle inflation and comparison. The nervous system never rests because the target keeps moving.

Contentment quiets that chase.

From a health standpoint, fewer inputs often mean clearer signals:
- Less noise
- Less decision fatigue
- Less comparison
- Less sympathetic overdrive

More presence
More gratitude
More control

Practicing poverty doesn’t mean rejecting ambition.
It means training yourself not to be ruled by comfort.

Try this week:
- Eat simpler meals
- Skip an unnecessary purchase
- Spend an evening without digital input
- Choose gratitude over upgrading

If you can be at peace with less, you become harder to destabilize.

That’s not minimalism for aesthetics.
That’s resilience.

Health optimization isn’t just hormonal or metabolic.

It’s psychological discipline.

Contentment is strength.

Be content
Be HOL

02/19/2026

“Food for thought” for those who may be dieting and or fasting over the next few weeks.

If you’re dieting and constantly starving, the problem might not be your willpower… it might be your food choices.⁠ Same calories. Very different food volume.⁠
⁠
⁠
You could have:⁠
🍫 23 candy-coated chocolates⁠
🥔 7 chips⁠
⁠
OR⁠
⁠
🥦 3.5 cups of broccoli⁠
🍓 2 cups of strawberries⁠
⁠
⁠
👉️ More volume. ⁠
👉️ More satisfaction.

https://rpstrength.com/

02/18/2026

Spiritual Discipline, Stress Physiology, and Men’s Health: The Overlooked Pillar of Men’s Health

Ash Wednesday is a reminder of something modern culture tries to ignore:

Life is finite.

“Remember that you are dust…” is not meant to create fear — it is meant to create clarity.

Mortality awareness sharpens priorities. It forces reflection. It invites reset.

And spiritually, that matters.
But physiologically, it matters too.

Spiritual practices have measurable effects on the nervous system and long-term health:

- Prayer and meditation reduce sympathetic tone and lower stress hormones
- Fasting improves insulin sensitivity and metabolic flexibility
- Community worship reduces isolation, which is linked to inflammation and mortality risk
- A sense of meaning and purpose correlates with improved long-term health outcomes

When a man slows down, reflects, fasts, repents, and reconnects with purpose — his physiology shifts toward restoration.

Spiritual discipline is not weakness.
It is regulation.

We often approach men’s health as if men are biochemical machines to be optimized.

But the truth is:

Men are not just biochemical machines — we are spiritual beings with biology attached.

Ash Wednesday reminds us of the impermanence of life. And when a man understands his time is limited, he becomes more intentional about how he lives.

Optimizing healthspan is not about vanity.
It’s about stewardship.

To live fully
To lead fully
To love fully
To serve others fully present

This season can be more than symbolic. It can be deeply restorative (on many levels).

Be present
Be HOL

02/17/2026

The Parasympathetic System: The Foundation of Hormonal and Sexual Health
Rest. Digest. Repair. Reproduce.

We’ve discussed sympathetic dominance — the constant “go mode” many high-performing men live in.

Today we shift to the other half of the equation:

The parasympathetic nervous system.

This is your body’s restoration system.
It is largely mediated by the vagus nerve and governs calm, recovery, digestion, hormonal signaling, and sexual function.

When parasympathetic tone is strong:

- Blood vessels dilate appropriately (essential for erections)
- Testosterone production is better supported
- Insulin sensitivity improves
- Sleep becomes deeper and more restorative
- Systemic inflammation decreases
- Tissue repair accelerates

Erections are parasympathetic.
Recovery is parasympathetic.
Hormonal optimization is parasympathetic.

Yet our society does not value downtime.

We celebrate exhaustion.
We glorify overwork.
We equate busyness with importance.

Ironically, the harder you work and the more ambitious you are, the more intentional recovery you require (not less).

High output demands high recovery.

You cannot train hard, lead hard, build aggressively — and neglect the system responsible for repair.

If sympathetic activation is the accelerator, the parasympathetic system is the brake and the maintenance department.

Both are necessary.

Actionable ways to strengthen parasympathetic tone:

- Slow nasal breathing (especially prolonged exhales)
- Resistance training — without chronic overtraining
- Morning sunlight within 30 minutes of waking
- High-quality, protected sleep
- Intentional mindful pauses during the day

Spiritual practices such as prayer, contemplative silence, and mindfulness can also strengthen parasympathetic tone. Slow, rhythmic breathing and intentional stillness stimulate the vagus nerve, lower heart rate, and reduce cortisol. Just as importantly, prayer cultivates surrender, gratitude, and perspective — shifting the body from vigilance to restoration.

These are not luxuries, nor afterthoughts.
They are physiologic requirements.

Parasympathetic dominance is where repair, hormone optimization, and sexual function live.

If a man wants vitality, he must learn not only how to push — but how to recover.

Be balanced
Be HOL

02/16/2026

Be consistent
Be HOL

A lot of us made new year’s resolutions. And a lot of us abandoned them, too. But setbacks are part of the process. You can still reach your goals. Forgive yourself, reassess and try again!

02/16/2026

Sympathetic Dominance: When “Always On” Becomes a Liability

In my practice, I often counsel patients who tell me they “cannot turn off.”

I see this most commonly in:
- First responders
- Law enforcement
- Military personnel
- High-performing, hard-charging professionals

These are disciplined, mission-driven, successful men. Their drive has served them well.

But many are living in a state of chronic sympathetic dominance.

The sympathetic nervous system is your fight-or-flight system. In the short term, it is powerful and protective contributing to:

- Heightened focus
- Faster reaction time
- Increased strength and endurance
- Suppressed pain perception
- Elevated drive and competitiveness

In dangerous or high-stakes environments (running from the lion that is trying to eat you), this is adaptive. It saves lives. It builds careers.

The problem arises when the system never powers down (often, unending tasks are perceived as the lion).

When sympathetic activation becomes chronic:

- Sleep becomes fragmented
- Cortisol remains elevated
- Testosterone declines
- Blood pressure rises
- Visceral fat accumulates
- Erectile function suffers
- Emotional connection becomes difficult

The body begins prioritizing survival over repair.

And over time, this physiology can overpower a man’s life.

Work becomes identity.
Stillness feels uncomfortable.
Silence feels foreign.
Rest feels unproductive.

The nervous system does not differentiate between a battlefield and a boardroom — it only detects threat.

A man cannot live indefinitely in fight-or-flight mode and expect optimal hormone balance, sexual health, metabolic health, or relational health.

True strength is not constant intensity.
It is the ability to shift gears.

This week we’ll continue discussing how restoring parasympathetic tone — through disciplined recovery, stress management, and spiritual practices — is not weakness.

It is physiologic, ancient wisdom.

Be balanced
Be HOL

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02/15/2026

From Epigenetics to the Nervous System: Why Your Body Is Always Listening

This past week we discussed epigenetics — the reality that your lifestyle doesn’t just affect how you feel… it influences how your genes are expressed.

Sleep.
Nutrition.
Exercise.
Stress.
Environment.

These inputs send signals to your body that can either promote resilience — or dysfunction.

But here’s an important distinction:

Genetics is the hardware.
Epigenetics is the software.

Your DNA sequence (genetics) is largely fixed.
But gene expression (epigenetics) is dynamic and responsive.

This parallels the work of psychologist Dr. Carol Dweck, who describes the difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset.

- A fixed mindset says: “This is just how I am.”
- A growth mindset says: “My inputs shape my outcomes.”

Genetics alone can feel like a fixed mindset.
Epigenetics reflects a growth mindset — your daily behaviors influence how your biology performs.

You may not control the genes you inherited.
But you influence how they are expressed.

So how are those lifestyle signals transmitted?

One major pathway is your autonomic nervous system.

Your genes are not operating in isolation. They are constantly responding to neural and hormonal cues. And your autonomic nervous system — specifically the balance between the sympathetic (“fight or flight”) and parasympathetic (“rest and repair”) systems — plays a central role in that regulation.

When the sympathetic system is chronically activated:
- Cortisol rises
- Sleep suffers
- Testosterone declines
- Visceral fat accumulates
- Erectile function weakens

When the parasympathetic system predominates:
- Hormonal signaling improves
- Blood flow improves
- Insulin sensitivity improves
- Inflammation decreases
- Recovery and repair occur

Your body cannot prioritize reproduction, strength, and vitality if it perceives constant threat.

This upcoming week, we’ll break down:
- The sympathetic nervous system and its hidden pitfalls
- The parasympathetic system and why it’s foundational for men’s health
- How stress management and spiritual practices influence physiologic balance

If you struggle with fatigue, ED, low testosterone, poor sleep, or central weight gain — the missing piece may not be another supplement.

It may be your nervous system.

More this week.

Be balanced
Be HOL

02/13/2026

I like that the good doctor (a Cardiologist) starts with sleep recommendations:

“Let’s start with sleep.

“Seven to eight hours of sleep at night is recommended for ideal cardiovascular health,” says Dr. Adedinsewo. “Fewer hours or poor-quality sleep can lead to physical symptoms that impact the rest of your body, including your heart.”

I often start with sleep optimization within my practice.

Be rested
Be HOL

February is American Heart Month! A reminder that small, heart-healthy habits can lead to big benefits. From sleep and eating well to staying active and managing key health numbers, these expert tips can help you focus on heart health year-round. Read more from our clinical care collaborator, Mayo Clinic.

Learn more here: https://batonrougeclinic.com/news-education/mayo-clinic-minute-what-to-do-for-a-healthier-heart/

02/13/2026

Epigenetics Series: Sleep, Stress & Your Genetic Switches

We often talk about diet, exercise, and hormones… but two of the most overlooked drivers of long-term health are sleep and stress.

Your DNA is the blueprint.
Epigenetics is how that blueprint gets read.

Sleep and stress don’t change your genes — they change how your genes are expressed.

When sleep is poor or stress is chronic:

- Cortisol remains elevated
- Testosterone production declines
- Insulin sensitivity worsens
- Inflammatory pathways are activated
- Recovery and cellular repair are impaired

Deep sleep is when your body recalibrates:
- Hormonal regulation (testosterone, growth hormone)
- Neural repair and memory consolidation
- Immune system optimization
- Metabolism

Chronic stress does the opposite. Persistent sympathetic activation shifts the body toward survival mode — prioritizing short-term adaptation over long-term repair. Over time, this alters gene expression patterns tied to inflammation, metabolic disease, and sexual health.

In men especially, I frequently see the downstream effects:
- Low testosterone symptoms
- Erectile dysfunction
- Weight gain and insulin resistance
- Decreased energy and motivation

Optimizing sleep and managing stress isn’t “soft” medicine — it’s molecular medicine.

If we want better metabolic and sexual health, fertility, and longevity, we have to address the epigenetic drivers.

Your daily habits are constantly telling your genes what to do.

Make sure they’re sending the right message.

02/12/2026

Epigenetics Series: Exercise, Male Fertility, and Generational Health

Epigenetics refers to heritable changes in gene expression that occur without altering the DNA sequence itself. Through mechanisms such as DNA methylation, histone modification, and non-coding RNA signaling, the body regulates which genes are turned on, turned off, or modulated.

In men, these epigenetic signals are highly relevant to s***matogenesis, s***m quality, and even offspring health.

One of the most powerful epigenetic modifiers?
Exercise.

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Exercise as an Epigenetic Regulator

Regular physical activity induces favorable gene expression changes across multiple systems:

- Improved methylation patterns in metabolic genes
- Reduced oxidative stress
- Lower systemic inflammation
- Enhanced mitochondrial function
- Improved insulin sensitivity
- More favorable testosterone-to-estradiol balance

These changes are not limited to muscle tissue—they extend to developing germ cells within the te**es.

S***matogenesis is extremely sensitive to metabolic and inflammatory stress. Sedentary behavior, visceral adiposity, insulin resistance, poor sleep, and chronic inflammation all contribute to adverse s***m epigenetic patterns.

Exercise directly counters these influences.

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Exercise and Male Factor Infertility

Male factor infertility contributes to nearly half of infertility cases. Common abnormalities include:

- Oligos***mia
- Asthenos***mia
- Teratozoos***mia
- Elevated s***m DNA fragmentation

Lifestyle plays a central role in each.

Oxidative Stress & DNA Fragmentation
Excess adiposity increases reactive oxygen species (ROS), leading to s***m DNA damage. Moderate, consistent exercise improves antioxidant capacity and reduces oxidative stress—supporting improved DNA integrity.

Hormonal Optimization
Structured resistance and aerobic training improve:

- Total and free testosterone
- SHBG balance
- Insulin sensitivity
- Estradiol regulation

A healthier metabolic state supports a more stable hypothalamic–pituitary–gonadal axis.

Dose Matters
The relationship is not linear.

- Moderate aerobic activity improves semen parameters
- Resistance training supports testosterone and body composition
- Overtraining or excessive endurance work may suppress the HPG axis

For most men attempting conception:
- 150–300 minutes/week of moderate aerobic activity
- 2–3 resistance sessions weekly
- Maintenance of healthy body composition
- Adequate sleep and recovery

Balance—not extremes—optimizes fertility.

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The Multigenerational Impact

Epigenetics shifts the conversation from short-term fertility to long-term generational health.

S***m carries more than DNA. It carries metabolic programming influenced by:

- Obesity
- Insulin resistance
- Inflammation
- Stress
- Environmental exposures
- Physical activity patterns

Adverse paternal metabolic states are associated with altered s***m methylation patterns in genes involved in growth regulation and metabolic function. These epigenetic signals are delivered at conception and may influence offspring metabolic risk.

When a man improves his lifestyle—through structured exercise, visceral fat reduction, improved nutrition, and metabolic optimization—he may favorably modify the epigenetic information transmitted to the embryo.

When both partners optimize health, the potential impact expands further. Oocyte quality, early embryonic signaling, placental development, and fetal programming are all epigenetically regulated processes. Improvements in insulin sensitivity, inflammatory burden, hormonal balance, and micronutrient status in both individuals create a healthier developmental environment from day one.

The implication is significant:

- A healthier father may reduce metabolic risk in his children
- A healthier couple may positively influence early embryonic programming
- Lifestyle changes before conception may alter long-term cardiometabolic trajectories

Preconception health is not just fertility enhancement.
It is upstream disease prevention.

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Clinical Takeaway

When evaluating male factor infertility, lifestyle is foundational—not optional.

Before or alongside assisted reproductive techniques, structured attention to:

- Exercise programming
- Body composition
- Insulin resistance
- Sleep optimization
- Inflammation reduction

can meaningfully influence semen parameters, hormone balance, and potentially offspring health.

Exercise is not simply “good for you.”
It reshapes gene expression—including in s***m.

And that may be one of the most powerful tools we have in reproductive medicine.

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***mHealth





Be aware
Be HOL